Prior to the 2017 contest, Croatia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-two times since their debut in Millstreet. The nation's highest placing in the contest was fourth, which they achieved two times: in with the song "Sveta ljubav" performed by Maja Blagdan and in with "Marija Magdalena" performed by Doris Dragović. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Croatia had featured in six finals. Croatia's least successful result in the final has been twenty-third place, which they achieved in with the song "Lighthouse" performed by Nina Kraljić, their first final performance after 7 years. And Croatia's least successful result in semi final has been sixteenth place, which they achieved in with the song "Vjerujem u ljubav", performed by Dragonfly and Dado Topić.
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
The Croatian broadcaster HRT confirmed on 17 September 2016 their intention to participate in the 2017 edition. However they haven't announced the way their entry will be chosen. As there wasn't anything said about submitting for any new national selection, it was most likely that HRT will select the entry internally again. On 17 February 2017, exactly five months after they confirmed their participation, they announced that Jacques Houdek was selected internally to represent the country. The song title, "My Friend", was released on 20 February 2017.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Croatia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. After the official semi final draw was released, Croatia was supposed to perform 12th. After Russia's withdrawal, Croatia was set to perform 11th. Jacques Houdek managed to qualify to the grand final placing 8th in the semi with 141 points. This was second year in a row that Croatia qualified. In the final, he performed 13th and finished on the 13th place with 128 points, which was Croatia's best result in 10 years.
